The City of Grapevine is GRACE’s home. It is vibrant, growing, unique, and thriving. But if there is one quality the GRACE staff is thankful for above all others, it’s that the staff, elected officials, and leadership committees of the city strive to remain aware of all the facets of their city. The City of Grapevine has been an ally of GRACE since its founding. We have partnered together for decades to provide a safety net of support and resources designed to assure that the residents of Grapevine and the service industry workers that make this city the destination it is are being well cared for. At the February 6th City Council meeting, GRACE CEO, Rebecca Cox gave city officials a ‘State of GRACE’ update ahead of the release of the funds already approved by the council to support GRACE programs and services. Here are the highlights presented to City

Tuesday, February 13th marked the first official Discover GRACE! We’ve been looking forward to this event, and are looking forward to many more. If you haven’t heard of Discover GRACE, let us tell you what it’s all about! The goal is simple: We want to share our mission and stories with our community, and to hear from them their ideas and history with GRACE in return! Formerly known as our Volunteer Orientation, Discover GRACE is opening our doors and inviting in the community— not just volunteers— to a behind the scenes look at the work GRACE staff does— and how you play an indispensable role in all that is accomplished. Here, guests will learn about GRACE’s mission and history, hear from GRACE staff about the work they do, experience a tour of GRACE Main, then regroup in the community room for questions, ideas, and if guests are interested, filling out

“I always loved GRACE from afar from what I knew of the agency,” said Rebecca Cox, GRACE Chief Executive Officer, reflecting on her first days with GRACE. Now, looking back on the first 90 days of her tenure, she concludes, “But now I truly understand the depth of feeling, the dedication of every person involved with GRACE, and the utterly inspiring feeling I get serving this mission. And that feeling grows day-by-day.” Literally, Rebecca’s “Day 1” duty was to preside over the grand opening of GRACE’s Christmas Cottage on December 4. A whirlwind of a joyous Christmas Season and Year End activities followed. “[Christmastime] was a season both of need and of giving,” said Rebecca. GRACE Hunger Services, Housing Services, and Children’s Services all posted record numbers served. Fortunately, the generosity of people in the community kept pace. “We had churches, businesses, and schools holding food drives all month long,”

Last month, poker players both young and old put their skills to the test in the 6th annual GRACE Poker Tournament! On Saturday, February 3rd, guests arrived at Park Place Land Rover DFW and experienced celebrity-style treatment with a red carpet! Hors d’oeuvres courtesy of Scratch Kitchen and a selection of wines courtesy of Classic Wine were enjoyed by all as players prepared to settle in for the tournament. Blackjack tables and even a practice poker table were also available for those who weren’t quite ready to play in the official game. The four rounds of poker were guided by Bryan Campanello, champion of the 44th Annual World Series of Poker, and strong supporter of GRACE. With each round, the number of players dwindled…until the final three remained! In the end, Brad Wilson with Parity Consultants was crowned this year’s GRACE Poker Tournament champion! Congratulations, Brad – and well done

Recently GRACE had a family come through our doors completely distraught. A wife and mother of young children was in a panic because her husband had recently survived a medical trauma and was unable to work during his recovery. Even though he was expected to return to work at the end of January, they would not begin receiving income until well into February. As he was the sole financial provider of the household, this unexpected crisis had them at a loss. They have always been a financially responsible household, and for the past seven years, they had never been even a day late on their rent! Now, due to their current situation, they wouldn’t be able to make the payment at all and were facing a housing crisis. The family shared that they came to GRACE because they did not have any family here and did not know where else

If there is one thing the GRACE Community needs to know, it’s this: We love our volunteers! The hard work, dedication, and compassion of our volunteers are crucial to GRACE’s ability to serve the families and individuals in our community. Words cannot express how appreciative GRACE is of its volunteers. From sorting clothes at Donation Station, to early morning set up at the GRACE Gala, GRACE volunteers go above and beyond for our community! If you’re looking to get involved in our community and join the team of GRACE volunteers (but have yet to do so), we want to show you how easy it is to get started! Anyone interested in volunteering at GRACE just needs to follow these three steps: Application Orientation Signup and Volunteer! Once you have submitted your application, you will receive an email with the GRACE Volunteer Orientation Packet and the links to our online sign

In recognition of busy schedules, time constraints, school and work hours, GRACE is offering Volunteer Orientation in two amazing ways! Those interested in volunteering with GRACE will submit their Volunteer application and receive a packet containing all the information needed to get started. This will include the mission and focus of GRACE, the history, information on all of our volunteer opportunities, and much more! With this in mind, we are very excited to announce Discover GRACE! With Discover GRACE, we’ve adopted a more hands-on approach to our Volunteer Orientation. Here, we’ll give our community an in-depth look at the work that goes in to fulfilling GRACE’s mission, while opening the doors to our community— not just to our volunteers. At GRACE, we believe that encouraging self-sufficiency will, in turn, encourage community cohesiveness. GRACE demonstrates compassion for those less fortunate by providing assistance to individuals and families in crisis. But GRACE

The GRACE team is very excited to announce our new two-part “GRACE in Action” newsletter! We are transitioning away from our usual weekly newsletter to a new format that we think you’ll love. Twice a month, GRACE will share amazing stories on who we are, what we do, who we help, how to get involved, and how to help our community! At the beginning of the month, we will share with you how GRACE assists individuals and families in need and how this helps the community around us. Then, toward the end of the month, we will spotlight how you can be involved in this mission to help individuals and families become self-sustainable after a financial or life crisis! We will also use this space to highlight upcoming events, GRACE programs and volunteer opportunities! We hope that you are as excited as we are for this new and improved newsletter

It is that time of year again! As we start a new calendar year, individuals and families are preparing to complete their tax returns to finalize their 2023 taxes. It is a costly process for many if they pay out of pocket to have their tax returns filed…money that takes away from the refunds they might receive. This is where the VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) program benefits so many households in our community. Along with the IRS and United Way of Tarrant County, GRACE offers free income tax assistance to eligible households who earn less than $64,000 per year. This program offers confidential services by trained IRS volunteers that make the filing easy. VITA is at the GRACE Main office at 837 E. Walnut Street on the following days between January 23rd and April 13, 2024. Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays:  2:00pm to 7:00pm Saturdays:  9:00am to 2:00pm. Simply come by GRACE